Did you know?

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was not only a masterly painter and sculptor, but he was also a scientist, engineer, and architect. He worked on the Milan Cathedral and at least two others. He served as architect and engineer in Milan for Louis XII beginning in 1506. Leonardo also worked on several projects for the Vatican between 1513 and 1515.

II. Art vocabulary

A. Colour: Range and Intensity

Unit 15

A

Words and expressions for specific colours

pitch black: intensely black, used about darkness, night, etc. (pitch is an older word for tar)

jet black: intensely black, used about hair, eyes, etc. (jet is a black semi-precious stone)

scarlet: brilliant red, the colour of traditional British letter boxes

crimson: strong deep red

shocking pink: an extremely bright pink

ginger: orangy red, used about hair and cats

navy: dark blue, used about clothes, not eyes

turquoise: greenish blue, used about fabrics, paint, sea, etc. but not usually eyes

beige: a light creamy brown

mousy: a light not very interesting brown, used only about hair

chestnut: a deep reddish brown, used about hair and horses

auburn: a red-brown colour, usually used about hair

B

Words for talking about colour

Red, blue and yellow are primary colours, by mixing them together you can make other colours. Pastel colours are pale shades of colour - pink, mauve [pale purple] and pale yellow, for example. Strong colours are the opposite of pastels. Vivid colours are strong, bright colours like scarlet or turquoise. Fluorescent colours are very bright colours which seem to glow in the dark. Electric blues or greens are extremely bright blues or greens. If white has a tinge of green, there is a very slight shade of green in it. If something is monochrome, it uses only one (or shades of one) colour, e.g. black, white and grey. The suffixes -y and -ish show that a colour is partly present, e.g. bluey green, reddish brown.

C

Colour metaphors

blue = depression (to feel blue); pornographic or indecently referring to sex (blue movie, blue joke); physical or unskilled (blue-collar workers)

red = anger (to see red = to be very angry); danger (red alert, a red flag); special importance (The royal visitor was given red carpet treatment. The day we met will always be a red-letter day for me.); left-wing in politics (red point of view)

green = nausea (to look green; People who are seasick often turn/go green and sometimes vomit.); envy (She turned green with envy when she saw her friend's diamond engagement ring.); care for the environment (green tourism; the Green Party)

black = depressing or without hope (a black future); anger (to look as black as thunder); illegality or incorrectness (black market, black sheep of the family, black mark). During the war people bought many goods on the black market. If I don't finish this report in time, that'll be another black mark against my name. My brother was the black sheep of the family and left home at seventeen.

grey = lack of clarity (a grey area); brains (grey matter, grey cells)

white = purity (white as snow, whiter than white); being pale (She was afraid and went

white as a sheet; a white knuckle [terrifying] ride at a theme park); office workers (white-collar workers)